Facebook Phone event sends stock up 3 percent

Investors appear to be cautiously optimistic about the announcements made today regarding Facebook and their new Android smartphone-based software experience. Stocks have jumped over 3% after the Facebook "New Home on Android" event, this allowing the stock to hit $27 and above for the first time in half a month. What we must assume is that the negativity in talk of a Facebook Phone (that is, a complete replacement of the operating system) was doused by the appearance of Facebook Home - a home screen replacement app for Android.

With the reveal of Facebook Home, we're seeing an experience existing within Android, on top of it - not taking it over entirely. Even when you put your hands on the HTC first, the very first Facebook Home device right out of the box, you'll be able to turn Facebook Home off if you like. But what of advertisements? And what of the idea that Facebook Home commands the entire user interface you're working with on your phone?

Such things seem to not have struck investors as concerns as the stock hasn't dropped since before the event began. Now we'll see if this first smartphone to run the device does well - at $99 USD from AT&T with a 2-year contract, it just might. And we'll see if Facebook Home is a software experience that people will want to try - or maybe even use regularly.

Have a peek at the timeline below to see the many angles at which Facebook Home has been covered by SlashGear today, and don't forget to stick to the Android Hub for more on the insides. Also let us know if you're all about the Facebook Home smartphone experience, if you'll wait for the tablet edition, or if you'll be skipping it altogether!